


Hunted

by FullmetalEnigma



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Al/Winry if you stare, I'm keeping him this way since he's ooc anyway, M/M, My First Fanfic, Roy/Ed - Freeform, also kind of Soulmate AU, bear!Izumi, bear!Sig, explanation to come with plot, greedling is the same person, jack rabbit!Paninya, leopard!Ling, lynx!Winry, mountain lion!Olivier, not sure if gonna continue, panda!Mei, panther!Greed, raven!Lan Fan, shapeshifter AU, wolf!Alphonse, wolf!Ed, wrote on a whim, yes I know I misspelled Hakuro I don't care
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-06 22:36:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6773041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FullmetalEnigma/pseuds/FullmetalEnigma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shapeshifters are being hunted by the military. Ed, Al and Winry included. When Roy visits Resembool with the extermination squad, what happens when he ends up meeting his soulmate? </p><p>Oh, he is so screwed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was sticky and humid day in the quiet, sleepy village of Resembool. The men were sweating heavily, clothes sticking to their skin as they trudged down the main road of the village. People peered fearfully from their windows at the men, but hastily pulled the curtains shut when seen. Children were ushered back inside their houses, and all work and chores quickly ceased. The residents hid in their houses, praying that the men would not come knocking on their door. Soldiers like these did not take kindly to prying eyes.

The group halted and parted in the centre for another man, who stepped forward and turned to address the exhausted group. 

“Squad A shall follow me to speak with the Mayor of the town. Squad B shall search the village for any evidence of the disgusting creatures. Clear?” The soldiers nodded a yes and they split into said groups. Squad A marched along a side road until they came to a stop at the Mayor’s house. The Major General knocked on the door; a quick, clear and practiced three times. A rush of footsteps could be heard of the floor. The door opened, revealing a clean-shaven man in his late forties, with greying hair and glasses. 

“Ah, you must be the General I heard enter the town. Well, welcome to Resembool. We are happy to have you.” The man gave a slightly nervous laugh, showing off his yellowing teeth. Haruko turned his icy glare on the poor man, who looked like he would rather do a month’s worth of paperwork in one day then have to stand there and deal with the General on his doorstep

“Mayor, we have come to inform you that there have been reported Shapeshifter sightings in this village. Have you received similar reports?” Haruko questioned, not moving his gaze from the nearly trembling man in front of him. He despised men like this, too weak to stand and fight, or even to state their opinion to another. How in the world this man had managed to earn himself the title of Mayor, he would never know.

“Ah, yes, well there have been a few recent reports, but… I did not deem them worthy of reporting to Central Command.” The nervous wreck of a man replied. Haruko sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I hope you realise, dear Mayor that it is under the law of the King that all Shapeshifters must be captured and killed. They are beasts in human skin. They are disgusting, unnatural beings. They must be eliminated. All of them.” he spat. The Mayor gulped. “So, if we find you harbouring those beasts in your town, I will not be the only thing you have to worry about. Is that clear?”

The nervous wreck of a man nodded quickly and shuddered. Haruko gave him one last glare before he pulled the door shut. He’d gotten what he wanted- a confession that there had been reports of Shapeshifters in the town. Now, all he’d have to do is ask the townsfolk- it wouldn’t take much ‘convincing’ before they coughed up what they knew about the beasts.

The rest of the Squad A followed him as the rounded the bend back to the main road. They could see a few members of Squad B milling around, probably taking a break. Nicholas gave them a glare, but let them rest. Exhausted men were of no use to him. He turned to Squad A.

“Go and relieve Squad B of their duties. Ask around town for information on the targets. Do not use force.” The men nodded and split off to relieve Squad B.  
Haruko turned to his second in command, a man by the name of Roy Mustang. Mustang was a good fighter, a good man, and loyal too- he was sure. He was sure he could trust Mustang over anyone else, including the higher ups, with his plan.

“Hey, Mustang,” Dark blue eyes locked with his brown ones. “I was wondering- what do you think about the extermination order?”

“My opinion?” Mustang questioned. Haruko nodded. Mustang furrowed his brow. “Well, to be honest, I think the extermination order is a bit harsh. Even though they share half their soul with an animal, the other half is still human. Plus, they never asked to a shapeshifter, they were born that way.” Mustang sighed, and shifted his hair out of his eyes.  
Meanwhile, Haruko was fuming. Didn’t Mustang understand? Shapeshifters had taken lives before with their dangerous and wild forms- people, families, his mum and dad. They couldn’t be tamed, and they needed to be stopped as a race altogether. Even their culture, the belief that they had not a god, but a holy land of all things was utterly preposterous. Their race as a whole was a disgrace to humanity, a blemish on the history of humankind. 

Mustang gave the Major General a sideways look, and picked up the aura real quick that he had said something wrong. “Uh, I think I’m going to go help Squad A search for the targets. Excuse me.”

“Good idea,” Haruko seethed as soon as Mustang left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: I am not turning this into a werewolf au, I swear. This is just where a bit of the soulmate au part comes in. Also, thanks to Animekat713 for motivating me to put this chapter up :)

Instead of helping Squad A with their search, Roy gathered up Squad B after their break to get back on the job. For some reason, Roy didn’t know why, Haruko was just about hell-bent to kill these shapeshifters he had heard reports of. 

In all honesty, the existence of shapeshifters had never really bothered Roy. He kind of sympathised with the wild race, actually. Roy knew what it was like to feel unwelcome or unwanted with the fair share of foster homes he had been in. Shapeshifters were generally referred to as ‘wild souls’ or ‘the impures’, making reference to their ‘half human, half beast’ soul, not fully human, therefore impure. While the remaining population of shapeshifters didn’t mind being referred to as ‘wild souls’, they didn’t particularly like being called ‘impure’. From what Roy had seen, most shifters just thought of themselves as a slightly more evolved version of the human race, which had changed to merge with a beast soul purely for survival. 

As far as their culture went, Roy didn’t see a problem with it. Most shapeshifters don’t believe in a god, or creator, but they do believe in the existence of a holy land, where they could be free to be themselves, whichever soul that may be, and not be hunted for what they are. He didn’t think that sounded too bad. 

However, the existence of the wild souls seemed to cause unrest within Amestris. According to some of the older ones who had come forward to the Amestrian government, Shapeshifters had been around for a long time, and had been in hiding in fear of the safety of their lives. People seemed to think that the shapeshifters were purely beast, that they did not have a human brain or conscience. They thought that the shifters murdered for fun, for sport. _But_ , Roy thought, _why do the pure side of the human race kill?_

Roy shook his head, thoughts receding back into oblivion. He could not allow himself to sympathise with the very things that he was meant to be hunting, but… Roy wasn’t sure that if he did come upon a wild soul that he could turn them over to the government to be slaughtered like the rest of their quickly diminishing race. The shifters might have abilities that the pures did not, but the pures had the numbers to fight with.

Roy had bought Squad B to the edges of the infamous Resembool forest. The forest was a popular place to find wild souls in hiding, hoping the government would pass a blind eye of them, but to no avail. They were always found.

“Alright,” Roy said to the group. “Spread out and cover the area. We want these targets found, no matter how long it takes. Remember, the shifters use this area for cover, and there’s a good reason for that, so don’t get lost.” The soldiers nodded and hurried into the forest in groups of two or three. If they did encounter a shifter, chances are it would try to defend itself, so backup was always necessary.

Roy made his way into the forest alone. He slipped on his ignition gloves. He was the Flame Alchemist, and he could protect himself.

The dense shade of the trees above made the stifling hot air a few degrees cooler and gave the alchemist a reprieve from the heat. He walked past areas that looked like had once been inhabited by shifters, with scratch marks that looked like tallies, makeshift shelters under foliage, and what looked like had once been a supply of food now rotten and stale. Obviously, government officials didn’t give the wild souls time for a last meal.

Roy made his way through the forest, looking for any signs of recent shifter activity. In about half an hour, he stumbled across a fast-flowing river, about seven meters across, and three meters deep. The water was reasonably clear, and seemed to sparkle as sunlight loosely filtered through the cover of the leaves. Seeing no one in his vicinity, he bent down and cupped water with his hands, splashing it on his face. He ran his hands through his combed black hair which had frizzed slightly due to the heat. 

Roy froze when he heard a scuffling noise, a fair few meters from where he was. A soldier would have made his presence known by now. He didn’t dare look around, but he knew exactly what it was. The scuffling noises continued, and Roy released the breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. Obviously, the shifter hadn’t noticed him.  
Roy allowed himself to look up, and froze when he saw the creature. 

It was beautiful, unlike anything Roy had ever seen. It was truly the definition of a wild soul. It was lithe, graceful, but he could easily see the rippling muscles under its fur. Roy felt the urge to approach the creature, to run his hands through its fur, and to look into its gold eyes.

It was a wolf, of course. It was much larger than a normal wolf, and Roy estimated that the wolf’s shoulders came up to his own when standing. The creature had beautiful, golden fur, and matching molten gold eyes. It had stark white teeth and rather large claws, which looked like they had seen their fair share of battle. The wolf had a long tail, and medium sized ears. Roy honestly couldn’t picture a wilder spirit.

The first thing Roy noticed after he took in the appearance of the magnificent wolf was the words thrumming through his skull. Mate, something whispered. Mate. Mate. Mate. Something about the wolf smelled absolutely divine, a mix of strong forest pine, something that made Roy think of the living embodiment of sunshine and a sharp metallic tang.

The second thing Roy noticed was the stark grey steel that made up the wolf’s whole right arm and just over half of his left back leg. The metal was shaped like the wolf’s paw was supposed to be. Oh, a voice inside him whispered, this shifter is an automail amputee. Roy crouched lower into the bank of the river, trying to hide himself in nearby foliage. It still hadn’t noticed him, but he knew it would soon, thanks to the direction of the wind that would alert the wolf.

Said wolf was snuffling around the bank of the river, running its nose over rocks and collecting what looked to be…moss? in its jaws. Once the wolf was satisfied with the amount of moss in its jaws, it dipped its snout in the water, effectively wetting the moss. 

Roy arched a brow, confused at the wolf’s actions. Wolves didn’t usually eat moss, did they? Roy shifted slightly in the foliage, snapping a branch under his foot in the process. Roy winced, realising what he had done. The wolf’s head bolted straight up, dropping the moss and baring its teeth. Its golden eyes locked on Roy and the creature let out a soft, uncertain growl. _Oh, fantastic,_ Roy muttered internally, _I’ve been seen._


End file.
